The birth of instict
by Johnathan soulless
Summary: A what if story. A retelling of the events when Yang Xio Long went to look for her mother in the woods. When confronted by a deadly unknown threat, there seems to be no hope...until a stranger intervenes.
1. The Grey Hunter

It was a mild day at beacon academy when the two girls stepped into the disused classroom. It would be easy to get the wrong idea as to their intentions, given the way the second black haired girl was being pulled vigorously by the blonde first. While it was cloudy outside, there was enough light for the lights to remain off. The blonde thrust the black haired girl into the teachers chair and wheeled it around. The black haired girl looked tired and pissed off."What is this about Yang, she spat; I have work to do?!" Suddenly, looking at the distant, almost motherly expression on Yang's face, Blake got an interesting impression. "Blake" said Yang, almost in a whisper. Blake's pale face went red, she had always thought Yang was as straight as a brick road, but now she was being advanced on? What would she say? Blake's mind was reeling. She could say no, but what if that wasn't accepted? The last thing that Blake wanted was to get raped in a dusty ol- "I wanna show you something...but I don't want you to go and tell anyone" she said softly. Blake was taken aback by this statement. She composed herself for a moment "w...what"? "I've never told you why I use these "Yang went on, gesturing toward her wrist bracers. "I wanna tell you something...but I don't think you'll understand unless you know a few things about me."

(Blake quietly sighed with relief and cursed aloud in her thoughts)"Ok" she said exasperatedly. Yang gave a small smile and then went back to her dreamy expression as she turned away from Blake's face; which was slowly regaining its original colour, and began to draw on the black board. The things she drew seemed to be just random symbols to Blake, but as she continued to draw, the picture seemed to take the form of a group of people.You know...there's a reason I have these gauntlets. I never really told anyone because it's a big secret, only Ruby and my uncle know. I always told my dad that I just saw something in a comic book once and that's what gave me the idea...I was lying. I wanna tell you why I am the way I am...but I need to know that it won't leave this room" she said without turning around, suddenly stern. Blake stumbled over her words, still coming down from the near hysteria she had just narrowly avoided. "Okay then, talk; she said in a voice of mock coldness, the truth was that she was actually interested, Yang was never this sincere, but make it quick."Yang's sigh of relief was very audible. It was very easy to tell that she trusted Blake's word. "Ok; she said, I'll tell you about that night when Ruby and me became hunters, about the night when we almost died, only to find that we had been truly born. 

This is the truth. When I was six I found a lead about my mother's whereabouts, I was searching for any unusual sighting or events on the CCTS and came across this article, talking about how people were disappearing in the location of this old barn on the other side of the forest near my dad's house. I would have asked my dad his opinion, but he was away on a long mission and wouldn't be back for a week. I wish he had been there. It wasn't much to go on...even as a kid I knew that...but I had to see for myself, ya know? Hindsight's a bitch sometimes huh? If I had known what was going to happen, I would have closed that webpage and never looked into it again. But I was desperate for answers so I put Ruby in a wagon while she was asleep just after nightfall and set off. I must have walked for hours, I didn't bring a time keeping device so I don't know exactly how long I dragged that little red wagon. After walking through miles and miles of creepy woods and jumping at the sounds of rabbits and deer, we finally made it. It must have been the very early morning because the sun wasn't up yet, the sky was pure black because the clouds were blocking the view of the stars.

The lead was cold; the place looked ancient and hadn't been in use for decades. One of the creepiest places I'd ever seen. Old, dilapidated, mounting over me like a tidal wave. The doors were lying on the ground, half buried by dirt. The inside was shrouded in shadows and looked, to a little girl at least, fucking terrifying. My heart leapt when I heard a noise coming from beyond the dark threshold of the barn. Sort of crunching, snapping and slurping noises. But then I realised where I was and that, it was probably just a pack of Beywolves that found a poor wounded animal. Defiantly not anything that could be a lead on finding my mom. I cursed mentally and felt tears in my eyes. I didn't have time to be sad for long though, the moment I decided it had been a waste, I looked up and screamed. At least one thousand blood red eyes appeared in the barns open door and the surrounding trees. That's when I noticed the smell- the smell of death. It was coming from the barns general direction. I covered my face in a futile attempt to block the horrible stench. I knew what they were going to do; I also knew that a stupid girl who didn't even know where the hell she was ,that was too tired to even scream for help was no match for them. I couldn't move, I couldn't fight, and I couldn't even protect Ruby. All could do was quiver in fear, as they began to descend from their hiding places. That's when I saw them in the dim light I had, a lantern I'd brought with me.

I sighed in relief, they were not Grimm like I assumed, they were people...but they weren't normal people. They had chalk white faces and...Red eyes! But their eyes weren't just red; they were the wild, animalistic, crazy eyes of a monster. They were all wearing expensive looking, nobleman clothing, but they were stained, almost covered in blood. They were also carrying weapons that I had never seen before, weird looking swords and guns. The swords looked like rapiers with guns built into them and the guns were slender and expensive looking flintlock pistols. But the creepiest thing was the fact that they were all looking at me... and grinning, like I was a helpless fly; caught in spider's web.

That horrible stench was coming from behind them, from inside the barn; I guess I interrupted their dinner. I was glad it was too dark too see what was inside the barn, I might have passed out if I put an image to that smell. The question was what were these freaks going to do to me and my sister? A guy wearing a black garb stepped forward. He had an odd black, flat hat on, a faded white scarf around his neck and muddy black boots. He was absolutely caked in blood, parts of his clothing almost seeming to shimmer from the horrible red slime.

But the worst part of him was his face, his eyes were hard to see because of the dark and his wide brimmed hat being low, I could only make out two red dots from his shadowy face. But I could clearly make out his smile; it stretched from ear to ear, bearing a set of disgusting, sharp, yellow teeth, all of which were stained red at the end. Both his arms were at his sides, a small sheath on his belt was holding a large axe with bandages around the blade and handle. All the alarms were going on inside my head as loud as cannon fire.

"Good evening" said the man, in a somewhat kind voice but with a menacing deepness. I swear I could smell his breath from a couple of yards away...although that might have just been the barn. "H...heh...hi..." I stammered out, scared out of my wits at this point. His voice was almost unnaturally deep now. "Beautiful night tonight, wouldn't you say?" he said jerking his head upwards toward the sky, but never taking his eyes of me. I was confused, why was he trying to make small talk? I'd expected him to try and mug me or something. "Umm...I guess, I...it's not clear though, you can't see the stars".

The man's smile widened even more" I know...especially tonight". The man took a step towards me "on a night like this, I wouldn't have expected to come across two delicate young ladies such as yourselves in a place like this"; my blood ran cold as he said that, he had noticed Ruby who was still in the wagon, fast asleep. I was confused by his tone; he clearly wasn't human, so why was he being so polite? The crowd of other people were standing patiently, still training all of their eyes on me. "I'm sorry, I blurted out, i-i didn't mean to disturb you, don't worry I'll just g-what's your hurry?" the man interrupted, chocking is head to one side like a dog who was curious about something," are you looking for someone? You're not lost...are you?"

I decided to lie, it seemed like the most likely story that I was out for a stroll with my sister and had become momentarily disorientated."I'm not lost, I know this place really well, I just came to try and find my Mom-I clapped my hands over my mouth, Stupid! Why did I tell him that? Now he would know that Ruby and I were alone in the woods without an adult! His grin stretch so wide that I could practically see nothing but the hat and those horrible teeth" really?" he moved even closer and now the others were starting to move slowly to either side, forming a circle around me and the wagon. "why don't you come with us, he said now inches away from me, we would be happy to help you find your mother", I could see his eyes now, they were like the rest, blood crimson and ravenous, he had the look of a rabid wolf that had just found a wounded gazelle. I guess that seemed more apt than ever now.

I began to try and back away, but I tripped over my own feet in panic and fell to the ground. This made me drop the lantern which shattered and went out on the wet muddy, ground. The man and the entire crowd laughed cruelly as he moved forward sharply and grabbed my leg, I struggled to get away from him but I was so tired and he was unnaturally strong. He dragged me back and lifted me up by my ankle, I was so relieved that I had worn shorts under my skirt or that would have been even more humiliating...funny that, the things we think about when we are about to die. That animal raised the axe high over his head; his eyes directed at my knee, there was nothing I could do. He was going to cut my leg off and then his buddies would come in to finish the job, I tried to scream but my voice was cut off by another, quieter, more confused voice coming from my right. "Y...Yang?"

My head shot around to look at the wagon, Ruby was awake, sat up and looking at me with large, frightened eyes showing from inside her little red hood, like little twin silver moons in a starless sky." Ruby"! I yelled half out of panic, half out of guilt for bringing her "run! Go! Get out of here"! She jumped at the volume of my demand and fell out of the wagon by accident. "But wha-why...where are w...who is he?" Cried Ruby pointing at the man holding me, tears in her eyes "let go of her now"! The man paused to glare at her with that cold gaze, like a Baywolf. His wild eyes and that terrible smile made Ruby let out a small squeak and shrink away. Then she started to do what I could not. Cry for help. A loud desperate plea to whoever would listen exploded from inside my sister's hood. The guy holding me looked at her again angrily, as if about to tell her to shut up. Then his face momentarily relaxed...before contorting into the widest smile id seen so far. He dropped me and began to walk towards my sister. "Wait! I called, what are you gonna do"?!The man turned back to me still grinning.

"On second thought... I think the short one will go first" he said softly while still holding me in that almost hypnotic line of sight, "I'll get back to you after I silence this one". My mind went blank and all I could do was stare at Ruby, huddled by the wagon, covered by her hood and cloak...I was fine with dying myself if that meant Ruby could get away...I know right, pretty defeatist, especially for me...but it was because of me that she was in danger...if something was gonna hurt her... he raised the axe again, her eyes flashed with fear and anger, she seemed to be welling up, preparing for the pain. That made me snap, I grabbed for Ruby, shut my eyes and screamed "Don't you dare touch her! If you hurt her I swear I'll-BANG!

...

An ear splitting gunshot ripped through the night air, it made me block my ears but my eyes were still shut. I wondered if it was over, if that horrible man had killed me...only...I could still move, I could still feel the wagon next to me and I could definitely still hear the crowd gasping and murmuring in shock. Slowly and carefully, I opened my eyes. The man was hunched over a few feet away from Ruby and me, howling in pain. I could see that he was bleeding, when I looked closer I gasped. He was clutching the short bloody stump where his right forearm used to be. I couldn't believe it, had one of his friends shot him? N...no that was impossible; those guns were big but not enough to take someone's arm off. I looked around to see if Ruby was alright; she was staring behind us. I looked the same direction she was looking and saw what had caused the man's injury.

In the spot where the crowd had previously cut off our escape stood another man, roughly the same height as the rest, but his clothes were different. He was wearing a grey garb with a dark grey cloak thrown over his shoulders; his boots and one glove were grey as well. On his head he wore a grey tri-corn hat that I had never seen before, with a grey cloth drooping down from it covering his left eye. His entire body seemed to be grey except for his left arm, in place of what would normally be a forearm; there was a gleaming silver weapon. It was nothing like anything I had ever seen. It appeared to be a large silver steak jutting out of some sort of silver contraption, and there was a great deal of steam emanating from around where the steak and the weird box thing met on his arm. I had no idea where the gunshot had come from. His face was sharp and restless with well defined features. The look on his face was not animalistic like the others; his eye was deep brown, not red and wore a slightly bored expression. Despite this, he did not look happy. He had a kind of bitter look of satisfaction on his face.

Ruby and I were now in the middle, between the mob and this new comer. I was so shocked to see him standing there when I was so sure a few seconds ago that I was dead, that it took me a second to notice that Ruby was pulling on my sleeve, trying to get my attention. "What?" I said quickly then I saw her face, she wasn't looking at the new guy anymore, and instead she was staring at the creep who just got his hand blown off. I whirled around. He was standing up now, gripping the axe in his other hand, staring at the man in grey with a look of utter fury. I also noticed that every other person in the crowd was looking at him with the exact same expression. "What the hell to you think you're playing at, you bastard"?! Yelled the formerly grinning man, now completely overtaken by rage, the smile was gone but his teeth were still beared like a snarling beast "It'll grow back, and when it does, I'm going to rip you in half"?! The grey man did not answer; he began to slowly move forward, never taking his eye off of the man with the axes' eyes. It was almost like he hadn't even noticed Ruby and me. The man with the axe suddenly guarded his missing hand, a look of terror on his face. "Stop"! Commanded the axe man, "Don't come any closer"! The grey man's advance slowed to a stop but he was close enough for me to see him clearly; his body didn't appear to be tense at all, he seemed completely calm despite being in the ironsides of a borderline army of furious cannibalistic murderers. I couldn't help but fell a little relieved, what if he's on our side? Was he brave and strong enough to help us, or was he just stupid and over confident? And that led me to worry, what if he got killed? What would I do then?

"What are you"? Spat the axe man, as the blood from his severed arteries began to subside. The man in grey smiled confidently and replied; he had a soft young voice but spoke with the demeanour of an older man. "Well... I would say Just in time it seems" he said softly, "I never thought I would be the one to find all of you in one place ". His manner was calm and confident, but not friendly. I stared at him, bewildered, did he know these freaks? The axe man seemed to be as confused as I was by this response. "Your rank I mean; he spat, clearly out of patience, and what do you mean by 'us'"? The man in greys' eye began to flash threateningly as he drew a large nobly, one handed blunderbuss out from a holster on his lower back, concealed up to this point by his cloak. He held it in his one hand. "Bad luck, he said mockingly; all you lot had to do was leave a few minutes ago, but I suppose you couldn't resist the toddlers...you always did like'em young didn't you...you pieces of shit."

Despite the jokes, loathing was burning in that mans one eye. I gawped at him as he jeered "I mean just look at you wearing those Cainhurst robes, don't you have any shame, I mean I thought scum could at least feel shame". He began to raise the gun. My eyes turned back to the axe man, who had been silent for a while. The look of hatred had been replaced a look of malicious, murderous amusement. As the Grey mans gun continued to rise, it suddenly stopped when the axe man raised his arm. His palm was open and it looked like he was trying to hail a cab...but then I saw all those other guys switching the safety off their guns, I knew what it was. They were all going to shoot at once! "Heh...don't even think about it; said the guy with the axe, the grin had returned to his face with great prejudice despite the obvious pain from his wound, as my personal respect for the dead, I will allow you to answer my question before you die: WHAT IS YOUR RANK?!" The crowd all started raising their guns and began pointing them straight at the man in grey's heart. The grey man smirked at the question that he had just been asked. Finally, he answered. "Can't you tell; he said gleefully, I'm a 'Powder keg'."

...

A weird silence rang out for about five seconds after this strange sentence was spoken. The men pointing their guns seemed to be caught in a momentary trance of incomprehension. The man had called himself a 'powder keg'; I had never heard that before. Whatever it meant, it must have been impressive because that entire crowd of monsters seemed cautious at the mention of the phrase. It was the man with the axe who broke the silence."Don't talk shit; he said loudly, although there was a note of panic in his voice, there are none of them left. They all died and so will you, you arrogant, bullshitting little git!"

I felt an urge to tell him to run but before I could make a sound, the man with the axe began shouting orders. "Ready...Aim!" the man stared at the grey stranger with a joyful smirk, he dramatically delayed the final command on purpose, presumably to try and shake the strange man's composure, the grey guy did not move or react. He had lowered his gun and seemed to be staring directly at the man with the axe, almost defiantly. I glanced at Ruby; she was looking from me to the grey man to the mob with a look of utter desperation, I wanted to comfort her but..."FIRE"!

I threw myself on Ruby to protect her, the moment after, we lost all ability to talk, scream, beg or even think. The gunfire was horrific; it was so loud that it seemed to somehow drown itself out. Those couldn't have been normal bullets; they were way too loud and bright. In the confusion, I moved my head up and opened my eyes, I wished I hadn't. The man in grey was almost impossible to make out from the flashing lights of the thundering gun barrels and the sound of ricocheting bullets meeting their target, the visuals wrapped with the terrible racket was almost maddening. What I could make out, was that the guy was flailing back and forth like a rag doll, the bullets jerking his body back and forth. The effort of keeping my eyes open was making me feel sick on top of being pointless so I decided to close them again. Ruby wasn't making a sound. The gun fire ceased after what seemed like minutes, although it was probably only a few seconds.

I still had my eyes closed so I did not know the outcome, but the triumphant cries of the mob gave a grim impression. Slowly, I raised my head to see what had happened, Ruby; who had been struggling to get free from underneath me, wriggled her head upright. We both gasped in horror. The man in grey was still standing, but only barely. The gunfire had practically ripped him to pieces, his clothes were as red as the others now and gaping wounds littered his body. His face was slightly obscured by a shadow cast by his hat, but it was clear by the blood dripping from the shadow that his face had been hit as well, his body was hunched over forward; leaking a pool of blood at his feet. The mob roared with insane laughter, the man with the axe had a grin back on his face but this time he was laughing so the blood that had been on his teeth was now spraying the air.

"All talk"! He cackled "I knew it". I felt that old dread begin to return to my stomach, our last hope. Our only hope, I mean look at him now, he's about to keel over and die. The laughter continued for a few seconds but as it began to die down, the axe guy barked an order. "Somebody finish this lying piece of shit o"...he trailed off into silence. As silence returned to the scene, I noticed something weird, the laughter was still going. It was faint and dishevelled, as if coming from someone who is enduring great pain...but it was defiantly there. I looked around for the source, instinctively I looked at the man with the axe but neither he nor anyone in the crowd was laughing anymore, yet I could still hear the sound of a person laughing, and... It was getting louder. The confused murmuring began as the mob tried to locate the sound of the mysterious laughter, eventually their eyes fell back on the grey man, that's when I noticed that the man was still standing...and the laughter...was coming from him. After a moment's confusion, all noise from the crowd had ceased, only the grey man was making a sound. I glanced at the axe man again, he looked absolutely horrified. I looked back to the grey man and saw why.

The blood pool surrounding the man's feet was beginning to recede, his blood stained clothes were beginning to become grey again and his wounds were seemingly closing themselves. His laughter was quite audible now; it was becoming louder and less rough as his injuries healed themselves. Slowly, his face came back into view...I gasped in horror. The man in grey's eye...had turned blood red...and a huge grin had appeared beneath it. "One of us" murmured the axe man with a lot more than a hint of panic in his voice this time "of course". I had been dreading this; I had been worried he was another monster. The grey man began to straighten up, his gun still clutched tightly in his right hand, now cackling to himself. The crowd was beginning to back away, clearly shocked that this man was still standing. I didn't know what to do, was this guy a lunatic? I thought I could grab Ruby and run, but they were packed so close together behind us, they would just shoot us if we tried to run, and there was no way in hell I was gonna take Ruby anywhere near that grey...thing. I didn't have much time to worry about devising a plan. Before anyone could react, the grey man had fully recovered, raised his gun and pulled the trigger several times, an honest to God smile on his face as he did it.


	2. Live bait

Yang paused while still facing the black board. At first Blake thought this was just theatrics, but after a few moments, she realised how Yang's free hand was clenched. "You still paying attention?" she said dangerously, slightly turning her head towards Blake's direction. Blake had been silent for so long, she could not find her voice to answer immediately. Yang's fist relaxed, "Well, if I'm boring you..." but then Blake found her voice, "No I...I'm listening!" Yang did not answer and continued.

The bullets each met their mark in the skull of one of those monsters behind Ruby and me. They fell to the ground with the soft thud. The men who had not been hit momentarily backed away, visibly shocked and caught off guard. They had been so mesmerised by the grey man's disturbing recovery, that they couldn't have expected such an accurate counter attack so soon. I could see...I could see the smile on the grey guys face widen as they all hesitated. I guess the idea of them being afraid made him happy or something. Then...all hell broke loose.

I had assumed the axe guy was in charge until now but at that point, any semblance of leadership was replaced with anarchy. The axe man roared with fury and the mob advanced, passing him, some throwing their empty guns to the ground and sprinting towards the man in grey, they're swords raised. My heart was beating in my throat; I didn't know what to do. I was in the middle of a war zone with my kid sister and had nowhere to go. They were closing in, snarling and cursing. The grey guy was not moving at all, almost as if he was enjoying the moment.

On an impulse, I scrambled to my feet and tried to grab Ruby. There was nothing I could do to stop this but I could at least try and get her out of the way. Someone else, however, had different plans. In a Flash of black and white, a clocked figure landed among Ruby and me, he threw Ruby in the wagon and kicked it; she went sailing out of the stampedes way. He then grabbed me around the waist and jumped with amazing speed, up into a tree branch just as the hoard met the grey man. I was in shock for a moment, dizzy and confused.

In the tree, it took about 30 seconds before I got a good look at our rescuer; he was a rather short person, wearing a black garb with a floor length black cloak, with matching gloves and boots. On his head he was wearing a slim black hood with another one of those wide brimmed hats and what appeared to be a white pointed bird mask, like a plague doctor. I stared at him while the sounds of combat echoed along the tree line.

I was in a daze for a second before remembering what was going on below me.

"Help him"! I pleaded with the man in the bird mask. I didn't care what kind of monster that guy was, he couldn't take on those odds alone. I had felt how strong that bastard with the axe was when he had been holding me, he was strong but it was more than that, his strength was twisted and erratic...it almost seemed evil.

Despite my panic, my subconscious noticed something. The cloak warped his figure a bit, but that man was strangely...curvy. The guy just stood there for a few seconds looking down; at first I thought he didn't hear me. However, when I opened my mouth to ask again, the figure turned to me and began to speak, what replied was the voice of a woman.

"Don't concern yourself with him; Djura can handle himself; she said slowly and very clearly. If I know him and I do, he's probably enjoying this, it's been a while since he was able to cut loose ...are you alright?"

Her voice was muffled because of the mask, but at the same time, I could still hear how soft, calm and relaxed she sounded. At the same time, she had a swift, matter of fact way of speaking. She seemed like the kind of person who didn't mess around with pleasantries.

"What"? I was confused, "who are you, what are you doing ...w...Why are you helpi-I asked if you're alright" she interrupted. I was kind of caught off guard by her tone; it had a kind of motherly feel to it. She seemed to switch from speaking very precisely and distantly to slow and concernedly. "Y...yeah I'm fine, I stuttered out, who are you? What are those things?" She turned away from me and her gaze returned to the ground.

"For now...only know that they are your enemy, they will not listen to reason...not anymore". I stared at her, why was she being so cryptic?

"If you're worried" said the bird mask woman "take a look, try and keep your eye on 'I'm...I dare you." I looked down and saw those monsters trying and failing to pin down...well...a greyish blur.

The area below me was a wild cavalcade of violence, all centred on the grey man. He was fighting in a way I had never seen before, his fighting style used a combination of punching and slashing motions with that weird stake weapon on his left forearm, the blade seemed to extend and retract of its own accord in order to suit his situation. With the use of his gun to either bash or shoot an opponent, the other guys were practically invisible compared to him.

As two approached him, weapons raised-ready to stab; he dashed forward and took the one on the left's throat. This knocked the other off course. He used the dead body of the guy he just killed as a meat shield to block a guy who had just tried to blindside him with a gunshot. Then, circumventing the now dead body, he dashed forward with an astounding speed. The grey man raised his silver weapon; the blade now retracted, and used it to punch the gunman in the stomach. The force was enough to lift that big man off his feet and, before he could even hit the ground, the muzzle of the blunderbuss was against his head.

He spun around, jerking his head to the right just far enough to dodge another blade, just passing by his shoulder. Using the butt of the gun, he smacked the attacker s hand, knocking the weapon out of his hand. The force of the impact forced him to the ground and before he could move again, the sole of a boot had crushed his skull into the dirt.

Even though they had him so outnumbered, he was taking them apart one by one like they were nothing. The wild smile on his face combined with the flash of his red eye made this man look like a mad demon. The speed of his movements was making it hard to even tell who he was fighting. No sooner did an enemy reach him; they were already falling to the floor.

As the mobs ranks began to dwindle, they became more frantic and reckless, some forgetting their weapons and trying to restrain him the old fashioned way, they were the unlucky ones... because they got to see what I was waiting for, the method of how this guy had shot the axe man's arm. The unarmed men ran towards the grey man whose name apparently was Djura. He stood perfectly upright still smiling. I began to worry again, was he gonna just stand there? I had my question answered almost immediately.

"Overly dramatic as usual..." said the woman, weary irritation in her voice.

Djura suddenly went into a battle stance, holding his gun arm out in front of him as if using it as a crude shield. His metal arm was drawn back in a position as if he was preparing for a hard punch. His entire body seemed to be tensed and his face was emotionless, straining for some reason.

"...Wait for it" said the woman, under her breath. I looked from her to Djura, wondering what was going to happen next. The metal weapon on Djura's arm was beginning to shake and steam, a small metal bar began to draw back from the centre of the metal tank that was his arm. As it did this, Djura drew the arm back even further, preparing to strike. The guys were about to dog pile him-suddenly he slammed his metal arm towards the ground. BANG!

There was a deafening gunshot and a blinding flash of light. I covered my eyes because of the strain and when I opened them...Djura was standing alone in the middle of a smouldering crater the size of a Nevermore. The men who hadn't been caught in the blast began to back away.

Djura looked back up at them, the grin on his face had returned and a moment later, he was among them. I was so shocked by the size of the crater; I almost took a step back, before realising i was in a tree.

"...Hydraulics" I whispered under my breath as I watched Djura resume his fight.

"Nooow you're getting it" said the woman, a note of amusement in her voice. Honestly, the way he fought was...cool, the punching motion, the speed, the fact that he was always on the offensive...I was amazed. Then I realised something...something that made me almost fall out of the tree.

"Where's my sister"!

I yelled at the woman in the mask. Her head snapped to look at me and the moved to scan the crowd.

"The girl with the red cloak is not down there, she said in a slightly faster and more urgent voice, I couldn't carry you both, knocked her clear so Djura could fight without holding back". I sighed with relief, but then I noticed something else that made me sick with fear, the man with the axe was gone too, I couldn't see him fighting.

"That psycho that was holding me is gone!" I yelled at her. The woman scanned the crowd once again then turned back to me.

"We'll have to split up and look for her, stay out of sight, I'll distract them to keep them off you" she said to me, quickly before jumping into another tree and disappearing into the darkness, leaving me by myself.

Yang turned around this time, looking Blake dead in the face before continuing. Blake's hands were covering her mouth and her eyes were wide with horror.

I didn't waste time, I didn't care if they saw me, I brought her here, it was my fault and I wasn't going to let Ruby get hurt because of how gullible I was. In a sudden fit of rage, I jumped out of the tree and landed roughly on the ground. I cried out in pain, I had twisted my ankle. Despite the pain, I got up with difficulty and tried to walk, I could manage it but I had to limp, I couldn't run. I still didn't care if they saw me or not and I sure as hell didn't care if they heard me.

"Ruby"! I yelled as loud as I could, moving around the edge of the blood bath that was the mob and Djura, just beyond the tree line. "Ruby, Ruuuuuuubyyyyy"! I knew that yelling was pointless; she couldn't hear me even if she was still in the clearing. I decided to check the surrounding woods, she may have gone there to try and hide. I ran into the brush as fast as I could, occasionally winching at the pain in my ankle but not stopping.

The forest was thick, in the dark it was hard to see that far ahead of me, and I fell over twice in the first minute of searching because I couldn't see the roots of trees at my feet. I had completely lost my visual sense of direction in my desperation, the only way I could still tell where the battle I left was located was but the shouts and cries in the middle distance through the trees.

I was still yelling Ruby's name, desperately trying to find any trace of her. The pain in my ankle was getting worse and my knees were bleeding badly from where I had fallen earlier. I ran passed a clearing and decided to go back and check it, just as I rounded the corner, I saw something that made me scramble back behind it. The man with the axe was hunched against a tree on the opposite side of the clearing...and he...

Yang paused at this point and Blake suddenly sat up straight, she didn't want to make her mad again, but as she saw the blonde turn around, Blake saw the tears in her eyes. They were hot tears. Painful tears. They were tears of someone who was trying hard to recall something that was very physiologically affecting. Blake straightened up a bit more and gave Yang her undivided attention, out of respect. Despite the tears, Yang smiled and continued.

H-he was hunched over so I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he looked different. He was taller with longer arms and legs, and his back was far more hunched than it was before. I could see that he was hairier and at the end of his arms and legs...they resembled claws, not hands or feet. He was taking deep haggard breaths, and seemed to be trying to speak. I didn't know what was wrong with that guy but I didn't wanna know, finding Ruby was my main objective.

I turned to go when I heard that things voice. The most terrible voice that I had ever heard. It was much deeper than before and had a certain slur to it. "Gasp...gasp... stupid brat...come back, I need...I need more". I stood ramrod still after he said this. Was he talking to me? I looked back and surveyed the beast again; he was still hunched by the tree. I surveyed the rest of the clearing and saw something both made my heart leap and dissolve at the same time.

I saw her. Ruby was huddled at the foot of a tree a little way along from the monster. I was confused, why had she not run? Then I noticed her face. She looked very distant and limp...she looked...dead. For a moment, I thought that thing had killed her. I was gonna run, I was gonna kill it, I didn't care that it was bigger than me, I didn't are that I had no weapon, I didn't even care that I was probably going to die. All I cared about was avenging her.

Just as these rash thoughts were going through my head, she glanced at me, and a hint of seriousness seemed to enter her eyes. Despite the circumstances, I let out a sigh of relief, she was alive. I was confused again however, when she did not move. Why was she still here? I began to creep over towards where she was sat. This made her eyes widen but she made no sound, in hindsight she was probably not trying to alert the creature to my presence. The axe thing seemed to be preoccupied with something. I pulled on her arms and tried to get her to stand up but she wouldn't.

"Ruby, are you ok? We gotta go" I said, panicking. She didn't answer; that's when I saw her face, she was staring behind me at the thing that once resembled a man. "Ruby please" I begged, still pulling on her, trying to get her to move but she wouldn't budge an inch.

I then noticed that she was shaking. I felt dread begin to fill my stomach. Slowly...I turned around. Axe man was standing only a few feet away from the tree, with his evil eyes fixed on Ruby. I held Ruby and stared at him. His face...something was wrong with his face, it was elongated and his face was definitely hairier than it had been back in front of the barn. He was much taller and hunched over. His eyes had much larger pupils now; he looked completely non-human.

I understood why Ruby had been frozen by this guy's gaze. For a moment, he did not move, he just stared at Ruby and me with pure hatred burning in his insane eyes. Then he began to advance on us slowly, he seemed to be trying to talk but his mouth was not the shape it was before so he only managed growls and snarls. I found it almost impossible to look away from that...that thing, but I looked down at Ruby whose eyes were wide and unblinkingly looking from the creature to me.

"Run, you're in the way" she said to me, in a shaky but oddly confident voice. I stared at her, all the colour had drained from her face, her pupils seemed smaller than before, and she looked kind of distant. "I'm not leaving you"! I shouted, with my back to the creature, so she would focus on me "come on, move"! Before either of us could say anything else, we heard an ear-splitting howl, I span around, holding tight to Ruby.

The creature had flown into a rage and was charging at us, its teeth bore, the axe lay forgotten-the thing had its hands open to reveal long thin claws. I was Frozen, I couldn't move Ruby; I pulled and begged and pleaded her to move but she was rooted to that spot. The creature was close enough now to attack; it raised one of its large mangled claws and made a swipe at me, probably trying to get me off Ruby. I felt a surge of force underneath me and my hands were ripped off of Ruby's shoulders …but it wasn't the creature that threw me off of her. It was Ruby herself.

She had whizzed past me at a speed I had never seen before and stopped abruptly, right in front of the creature. The thing shuddered with the impact, and then emitted a howl of pain that sent it staggering back. Only when I saw that Ruby was holding a kitchen knife did I understand what had happened. The blade was the longest that we had in our house, and there was dark red blood covering it all the way to the handle. She was staring at it with fury blazing in her eyes.


	3. The Foreign Team

Ruby's eyes were always weirdly luminous in the dark; I remember seeing them in our room when she had woken from a bad nightmare. They were so bright silver that they seemed to cut through the darkness. But they had never as bright as they were when she stared down that terrible creature. They burned so bright; they almost made me want to cover my eyes.

As the creature regained its balance, it started to howl madly, as if cursing in rage, clearly confused by the light. Ruby didn't give it long to regain its focus. She yelled and charged it with the same inhuman speed that she had displayed earlier. She sped towards the monster without hesitation as it began to swing its long clawed arms clumsily, trying to grab her.

As soon as the long clawed hand was an inch from her face, Ruby's body contorted in a majestic shower of rose petals, confusing the beasts aim so that she sailed over its head. Landing softly behind the stunned creature, Ruby grasped the knife firmly in both hands as she drove the blade deep into the monsters back.

It screamed louder that it had screamed all night as it tried to shake her off, she clung tight to that knife and it was too deep to be removed so easily. I had been sitting in terrified silence so I had no idea what she was trying to do; I just thought it had been a fluke, a rush of adrenaline...like I get sometimes.

But how could such a little kid be so tough? Ruby's teeth were bared as she struggled to hold on, but the beast was now down on all fours, shaking its entire warped form in a final attempt to shake the knife loose. Raising its lower body high into the air, it violently shook its entire torso, in a mad cap attempt to dislodge the knife; it was clearly obeying instinct instead of logic at this point. It strained and screamed and snorted, it pounded the ground with its clawed fingers, contorting in pain. And then...

A sharp snap brought both the girls in the dusty room back to their senses. Yang paused again, though this time there was a legitimate reason. The chalk she had been drawing with had snapped in two. She held one half of it in her hand for a few moments, gazing contemplatively at it. After a couple of moments passed, Blake cleared her throat. This prompted Yang to turn around. Blake had stood up, her face seemed a little flushed but otherwise, she looked completely at ease.

She walked over to the desk where Yang stood drawing, climbed onto the desk and crossed her legs. Sitting with her back ramrod straight, she waited for Yang to continue. This wasn't just about being polite anymore, this was study, Blake had always been curious as to why her team leader was considered so special and now it seemed she was going to find out why Ozpin favoured her so much. It was true that she cared for Yang, professionally of course (well...maybe a bit more that professionally). In any case, Blake knew that Yang had never told this story to anyone, she had been bottling up these traumatic close shaves for years, and she needed to let them go. Blake was willing to allow her friend to finally move on from her past...just like yang had helped her move on from hers.

"S-sorry" muttered Yang as she picked up a new piece of chalk and continued.

Then it slumped abruptly to the floor, very still. Silence followed for a few moments after the danger passed, Ruby was panting loudly. I wanted to ask her so much, how she had moved so fast, how she had known to bring that knife and where she found that amazing strength. But she cut across me just as I started to speak.

"Run away, Yang" she whispered.

"What"?! I spluttered, "What are you thinking"?! I wasn't leaving her, this was my fault!

"Please" she panted softly, not meeting my eye, "It's not...it's not safe yet".

Not a moment after she spoke these words, the beast's hand shot up and grabbed Ruby's chest. She and I gasped in unison. The thing was still alive! She struggled and writhed but could not reach the knife. The creature was rising back onto its legs, still holding my struggling sister. It appeared to be so angry, that it didn't even know what it wanted to do to her…yet.

I had no idea how its arm had twisted that far back to grab her, it had seemed incapable of this up until now. But then I saw how its arm was steaming and pulsing. The thing had broken its arm, and now that arm was healing itself.

If I thought that monster had any vestige of humanity left, I would've thought it was enjoying the moment. Its patience finally broke when Ruby raised her leg and kicked it hard in the side of the head. The monster yelled with fresh rage and hurled Ruby's body like a rock straight at me, to avoid further damage. She pelted through the air like a missile, collided with my middle and smacked me back against the tree. The impact was so powerful that it shook the tree to the roots.

The new pain in my abdomen almost made me pass out. When I got the feeling back in my arms, I grabbed Ruby to see if she was alright, and she seemed to have done the same thing for me. "Are you ok"? I gasped. "S…sorry" Ruby murmured, still not meeting my eyes. The thunderous footsteps were what drew our attention back to the creature.

It was charging at us again, but the footfalls were so violent and loud that the noise seemed to be coming from two directions. I was hurt and faint, I just held my sister, closed my eyes and pulled with everything I had left...I heard a slash, felt the wind hit me and felt some blood splash on my face...was I dead...I could still feel Ruby. Confused, I opened my eyes.

I looked at Ruby first to see how she was. She was still staring but now her gaze was raised a bit higher, her mouth was open and some of the colour had returned to her cheeks, when I looked up I saw why. The creature was inches from us huddled at the bottom of that tree, but it was impaled through the chest, impaled on the biggest scythe that I'd ever seen.

The blade was long and black, curved like the fang of a dragon. There was a dark figure holding the scythe, but I couldn't make him out from the other side of the creature. The man holding the scythe grunted and flipped the beast over him and slammed it down on the ground behind him, he then turned to Ruby and me.

I could see him now, like the other weirdo's I had met that night, he wore a black top hat, he had a brown over coat and a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders and a maroon scarf around his neck. He was wearing what looked like a nobleman's suit underneath that. His face was probably the youngest I'd seen that night, no older than my Dad, only this man had an edge to his face that my Dad didn't. His eyes weren't red (thank Monty) they were deep green. I didn't know his intentions, but he saved us so I guessed that meant he was a friend. My grip on Ruby didn't loosen though.

"You ok"? Asked the man with a smile on his face, he had a strong jolly voice that really surprised me, his smile defiantly reminded me of uncle.

"Yeah we're fine" I replied shakily.

"Nothing broken"? He asked, inclining his head towards my injured leg.

"No we're fine, I said a little more firmly; I hurt my leg a little back there but..." I trailed into silence, I was starting to feel faint again. He bent down on one knee and looked at my leg; he stroked his chin like he was considering what to do.

"Hmmmm...This doesn't look like it will cause you any permanent damage, although I think I will have Eileen take a look at you, she's better acquainted with giving medical attention than I am". I wondered who this 'Eileen' was, had that been the woman in the bird mask that saved us from the crowd.

The man smiled and turned his attention to Ruby.

"How about you"? The man asked her "You alright"? Ruby didn't answer; she was staring at the scythe with a lot more colour in her cheeks than the last time I looked at her.

"Hello...earth to red" he said with mingled sarcasm and concern in his voice. Ruby seemed to remain in a world of her own for a few more seconds, then she looked up, squeaked and sneezed. The man looked slightly confused.

"She says hello" I said, smiling for the first time all night. The man laughed and grinned back at me, of all the Horrible smiles I saw that night, I thought I'd ever look at a smiling man the same was again, but something about his face gave me a comforting feeling, he looked so much like my uncle when he smiled.

"You were a little red blur" he said in a very impressed tone, placing the blunt end of his weapon on the ground. "I wouldn't have intervened if that lycanthrope hadn't faked you out like that". Ruby directed her gaze towards her shoes. Her face was almost as red as her cloak and she was smiling modestly.

"What's a lycanthrope?" I inquired, "Why did that guy become a monster?", "and...and."

I froze for a moment, unable to speak. "You were watching?!" I said; completely outraged at this information, "Are you crazy? We almost died, and you could've-

Before he could even utter a response, there was a stirring behind the man, I was gonna scream but he was ready. He then spun around with astonishing speed and punched the creature, which had been getting back up with intent to strike; in the stomach. It yelped and went skidding backwards across the clearing.

"Excuse me" The man said politely to us, he then turned around to face the creature.

It was hauling itself to its feet, snarling resentfully.

"Eileen, get 'im"! The man shouted casually, sounding slightly agitated at being interrupted.

The beast looked angry and confused, it charged at the man with its eyes on his throat. Before any contact could be made, several silver flashes of light hit the creature in the back and made it slump to the ground, whimpering. As it fell forward, a view of its back revealed at least seven long gleaming silver throwing knives stuck in its back to the hilt.

The creature wasn't moving much, a pool of blood was forming beneath it, and it was whimpering. A moment later, the woman in the mask entered the clearing from the direction where the knives had come from; she also had the grey man Djura with her. Despite how many of those creeps he'd been fighting, I was surprised to see him completely unharmed, despite the regeneration. "Don't worry, I'll finish him off" said the masked lady who I guessed was Eileen. She walked around to the beast's front, bent down to its level, reached into her cloak and drew out a very strange sword.

It looked like two very long thin sickles bound together. With a quick flick of her wrist, the blade became two very long, warped knives...they were so sharp and shiny...until they crimsoned for a moment and then were never seen again. When she turned away from it, the beast was quite still...with a large slit across its throat. The man in the red scarf then folded the handle of his scythe and detached the blade from it so that he was holding a large, curved sword and a folded stick. He then placed the stick on his back and the sword in his belt.

All three stood over the monster, almost as if they were seeing it off. They were speaking in hushed voices and I couldn't hear what they were saying very well. All I caught was "poor bastard…nothing left of 'im…" Then all three turned to us. I struggled to my feet; the pain in my leg was made even worse by the fact that I had to drag Ruby up with me. Djura walked forward and held out his hand to me, I hesitated but then I saw his face up close, he had a very kind smile, the horrible grin from when he got shot had been replaced with a very calm, friendly smile and the red in his eye had disappeared.

Finally getting a good look at his face revealed that he had quite a few very visible scars; the biggest of them only slightly visible because of the rag over is eye. Despite this, the eye he had left had a kindness to it that I had only ever seen in my step Moms eyes. I took his hand and shook it. He was so gentle that it kinda threw me; I'd seen him ripping guys apart not half an hour ago. I felt my knees shudder as the pain in my ankle throbbed and I nearly fell over again, before I keeled over, he supported me with his hand, still holding mine and helped me stay on my feet.

"Thank you...s...so much" I shuddered out.

"Sorry if I scared you earlier" he chuckled and let go of my hand. "My names Djura, that's Gehrman and the short one's Eileen". Eileen's head snapped towards him as he said this.

"Say that again, I didn't catch that last part" she said very quietly, though we caught every word. Djura laughed and winked at her (or he might have just blinked at her, I couldn't see his other eye). A knife slid out of her sleeve and raised it in the air to point it at Djura's face.

"Respect your elders, little boy, or I might just make you symmetrical" She snapped, although I suspected her mask hid a flirtatious smile.

"I…I'm Yang and this is Ruby" I interrupted; I was too tired to be cautious, besides; if they were dangerous, they would have killed us by now. Besides…that was getting obscene.

Yang let out a small laugh that made Blake jump, as she had not laughed for a while.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the distance; someone was coming towards us fast. I looked at the people that rescued us and they were standing firmly behind me, their weapons drawn, waiting for whatever was coming to show itself. Ruby gripped my dress and hid behind me, I could feel her shaking.

I was worried that on top of everything that had happened, now we would start seeing Grimm. There was a rustling in the brush; I could make out a large, human like figure proceeding towards us through the tree line. Then, suddenly out of the darkness, Qrow Branwen stepped out of the bushes with a look of terror on his face, his scythe drawn.

The three people that helped us all lowered their weapons, they appeared to realise that he wasn't a threat, despite the weapon. Qrow's eyes darted between all the people in the clearing until they found Ruby and me. He then put away the scythe and began to move forward. He looked absolutely livid, angrier than I had ever seen him.

Even though I was happy that he had found us, I didn't know what his reaction would be, his face looked ready to kill as he walked towards us, when he raised his hands I thought he was gonna smack me around the head, but when he reached us, I saw that the irises of his eyes were red and full of tears. "Uncle Qr-"he crouched down, gave me and Ruby a very tight hug and what was going to be my apology was crushed out of me. I was relieved (My uncle may be a jerk, but I have to admit, he gives amazing hugs), but confused, I had expected him to be furious. I lead both Ruby and I into what seemed like a certain death situation, so why was he hugging us like this-and why was he crying?

"You're ok" he kept saying over and over again under his breath, I could hear his voice was hoarse from sobbing "Thank Monty...you're both ok". He hugged us for a good twenty seconds before he was willing to let us go and even then he wouldn't stand up again, he stayed crouched down checking us both over for any injuries. He ripped a piece of his cape off, pulled out his flask and poured some liquor (He still insisted that it was apple juice but I knew what it was by the smell), on it; he then pressed that cloth against one of my cut up knees. I hadn't expected it to sting as much as it did, I guess it was worse than I thought; I just hadn't had time to notice. "How did you find us"? I asked him quietly.

"I stopped off at the house to check on you two, he explained; but I couldn't find either of you". I could see in his eyes that he was very tired and out of breath.

"Lucky that wagon left a trail for me to follow. I breathed a little slower as I thanked past me for bringing that stupid thing with her.

"When I found the wagon, it was in a clearing...near a barn". I gasped,

"When I saw what was in that barn... thought you were...I thought you'd been..." he trailed off. I looked at my feet and felt the emotion begin rise in my chest, felt the lump come into my throat.

My vision began to blur around the edges as my eyes began to fill with tears too.

"I'm sorry, I whispered; this is my fault" I began to hiccup.

I began to cry, still looking at the floor, I couldn't look at him, I couldn't look at the Hunters who had picked up the slack for my mistake, I couldn't look at Ruby, who had been put in danger just because I was so selfish and dumb, I couldn't face what I had done. Nobody said anything, Qrow did not respond. I knew he was angry really; I knew what was coming to me, he was gonna tell me how stupid I was and that I shouldn't go looking for my Mom and how my dad was gonna kill me when he found out and how I'd never be trusted again to look after myself.

I waited...he didn't say anything; I saw his knees in front of my feet, he gently put his arms around me and embraced me. "You're...you're not mad"? He hugged me tighter

"No" he said softly; "no...I'm not mad...I was just scared, but it's alright now, you're safe...you're both safe and that's all that matters to me". I couldn't talk anymore; I just hugged him back, and sobbed.

After a few more moments of calming down, Qrow straightened up and we both turned to address the three who saved us, they had been waiting patiently while we sorted things out. "Listen" said Qrow with a look of sincerity on his face; "I don't know how to thank you for what you did for my nieces ".

"Actually", said Djura; stepping forward, "I think we should thank them, we've been tracking those bastards for weeks but all we could ever find was butchered villages". He adopted a sickened expression, as if he just tasted something disgusting. "This isn't the first time then" Qrow continued, observing each hunter in turn.

"I found a massacre at that barn", Qrow continued, sternly. "Yes" said Gehrman, rubbing the back of his neck, "that was Djura". Whether it was a response to Qrow's sickened expression or his hand slowly moving towards his weapon, I didn't know but He quickly added "Not the barn, we killed the culprits of that". Qrow relaxed at this. "Those guys dresses like you, so what's the story their".

"Those men you encountered were much like us, said Eileen; but they lost themselves to their thirst for blood a long time ago and since then, they've only gotten hungrier and more barbaric". Her voice had a melancholic tone. "But they've never done anything this…cruel".

"Okay, so you've been tracking them?" Qrow inquired, she nodded slowly. "I see-

what the hell is that thing!?" He blurted out suddenly, his sight falling on the remains of what once was the axe man.

"Oh that" said Gehrman, "That's, well that used to be an old friend of mine; his name was Gascoigne". There was a slight pause as we all processed this information, although it meant more to some than others. I for one now knew the name of than axe wielding maniac.

"We knew he was starting to show his age" Eileen explained.

"But I never thought that he would be running around with that lot" Said Gehrman, looking down at Gascoigne mournfully. Eileen put her gloved hand on his shoulder to console him.

"He was falling apart, I'm sure it had to be done". Seeing that his friends weren't going to explain anything, Djura stepped forward.

"They've been running around the country for months, butchering entire households as they went" he said briskly. "The issue was that they never moved together, they were always scattered and mostly travelled in small packs. "We could never have hoped that they would all coagulate in a single location for a single barn". Djura reached into his pocket and pulled out a dirty, stained cloth, he then began to clean his weapon, which was covered in blood. "These two kept them distracted while we got them surrounded".

So absorbed by this explanation, I just noticed then that Ruby wasn't next to me anymore; she was over by Eileen, staring at her. Eileen must have only just noticed her too because she was staring at Ruby, almost like they were trying to read each other's minds. Finally Eileen broke the silence and said something,

"Are you feeling alright, little one"? Ruby didn't answer, she just stared, as if hypnotised. Eileen seemed taken aback; I guessed she wasn't the best at keeping a conversation going.

"Uh... sorry about the kick by the way, split second decisions and all that".

Ruby didn't answer immediately, stared for a few more seconds and then said in a small voice

"...I...I like your cape...it's like...my mom's was..." she went quiet again, she sounded very out of it. I was worried about her, she had been acting very strange since that monster had us cornered, I thought maybe she was in shock or had PTSD or something. Qrow must have had the same concern because he walked up to her and picked her up.

"Hey...you feeling ok, kid"? He said, so softly it was almost hard to hear. She still looked kinda distant but after a few seconds, she turned to Qrow and silently nodded her head. "Good", he said bringing her in for a hug too; "you've been through a lot...you both have".

"Alright" said the Gehrman; "I think it's time for us to take care of those poor people in that barn, I think we should burn it". I was shocked,

"What? Your just gonna burn it? What about the bodies? What will their families sa-

You didn't see inside that barn...did you?" said Gehrman, suddenly serious.

"Well...no" I said, after all; I hadn't-I thought it would be too horrible to see.

"Those bodies...are little more than paste; said Gehrman very slowly, there is no way we could ever identify them.

"It's honestly the kindest thing for them", chimed in Djura;

"I agree" said Eileen.

I hesitated for a moment, but I knew they were right. I nodded. After Qrow nodded and took Ruby's hand, we set off towards the clearing where the barn was. I wasn't looking forward to seeing the aftermath of what had transpired there half an hour ago. I also realised that I had no idea how to get back to that clearing. However, the Hunters seemed to k now their way, and then Qrow's hand clapped on my shoulder.

"Alright, he said wearily; I think it's time I got you two back to your dad's house".

I looked up at him with in surprise. "But why"?

"I've seen that clearing and that barn; I don't want you to see that, not at your age".

I opened my mouth to protest but before I could say anything, I felt something tug at by sleeve. Looking down, I saw that Ruby was tugging my clothes and looking at me with a very upset expression.

"Yang…can we go home now…please?"

I couldn't say no to that face, I was too tired to anyway so I squeezed her hand and simply said "yeah".

"That okay with you guys?" Qrow asked the hunters that saved us.

""Yeah, that sounds good" said Djura.

"I think it would be a good idea for those two to go with you", said the Gehrman; "more of them could still be about, and I'll take care of the barn". Qrow looked very impatient; I could tell he just wanted to get home so he could sleep.

"That's kind of ya, really but I don't think-

"Someone has to carry those two" interjected the Gehrman, chuckling. As he said that, I felt myself give in, all of my strength had been used up, my legs finally gave way, and I blacked out.

 **Hi there, Johnathan here, thank you for reading. the next chapter will be coming in about 3 days from the day this goes up, thank for being patient and I hope you enjoy what i write in future.**


	4. Hidden potential

I didn't actually wake up until we got back home. I think I had a dream, but I don't remember it very well. I can remember a Cliffside...and a mask…but that's it. When I came to, I heard people talking, it was muffled and hard to hear, but I could hear that the conversation was between Qrow, Djura and Eileen, and they were getting closer. I sat up and looked around, it was still night but the clock on the wall said that it was **'06:14 AM'**. I was in my bedroom; at the time; me and Ruby shared bedrooms so her bed was next to mine.

I looked to see if she was in it. She was lying there fast asleep. I looked down and saw that I was wearing the same clothes. The sleep had helped my head feel a little better but now that I was calm and out of the cold, I was really feeling the pain in my leg, I tried to not think about how much worse I must have made the sprain by running that much. The door creaked open and my Uncle poked his head in. He saw that I was awake, sighed and opened the door fully; Eileen was behind him and Djura was bringing up the rear.

"Oh, your awake", said Djura; seeing me for the first time, "how's your leg doing"? I tried to stand up, but the pain was still pretty bad and I didn't want to stress it out anymore, so I sat back down.

"Still bad", I replied; "how's Ruby"?

Qrow sighed again "I dunno...she's not hurt...but", he paused; looking at her with a kinda distance in his eyes, "she didn't say much when I asked her what happened". I looked at her, she seemed so peaceful lying there; it was almost like she had never seen the whites of that monsters eyes.

"Listen", said Qrow; coming down to my level and looking me straight in the eyes with a serious look on his face; "I'm not gonna tell your dad that last night happened". I sighed and gave him a hug; I was so worried that my dad would never forgive me for what I did if he found out. He smiled at me and stood up, "Ok, Djura wanted'a talk to you before he leaves" he said.

Qrow stepped back and, with one last smile, left the room. Djura stepped forward and like Qrow had, bent down to my level. It was hard to tell how he was feeling, he wasn't exactly smiling; but his face was pleasant.

"I know that you're already aware that what you did was the unwise thing to do" he said quietly. I looked down, embarrassed.

"Yeah, I know".

"And I know that you regret it and that you won't do it again" he said, this time a bit louder. I nodded slowly, wondering where he was going with this.

"But I'm not interested in what you feel now, he said now with a serious look on his face; no...I'm interested in what you felt when you made the decision to go out into the middle of nowhere with no means of protection". I stared at him; Djura had a look of serious concern on his face, as if worried for my life.

"Why did you do it"? He asked, a little slower and calmer. I took a moment to consider his question.

I paused to think. Why had I done it?

I knew of course, I was looking for my mom, but would he believe me if I told him?

"It's dumb" I said, embarrassed again. I expected him to laugh but when I looked at him again, his expression had not changed.

"I know you're not foolish enough to put yourself and your sister in that kind of situation for something dumb, that's not the kind of thing that someone does on a whim" he said sternly; "You're smarter than that, so tell me why you went to that barn". I felt defeated, he was gonna find out sooner or later.

"I was looking for my mom". I looked away after I told him; I didn't know what his reaction would be, I heard him sigh. I looked back, expecting him to be disappointed, but he looked quite satisfied.

"Pardon me miss but, how the hell is that dumb"? He said smiling at me like I the first time we had spoken.

"Well, I said slowly; I thought you'd say I was selfish for putting that before Ruby's safety".

"I already told you, what happened after you made the choice isn't important to me, he said; with a hint of amusement; I want to know why you thought it was a good idea".

"Well..., I thought for a moment...I didn't really think...I just ...did". I wasn't lying, the thought had just come to me at the time, and I didn't think about it at all...maybe I was afraid I would reconsider if I did think. Djura sighed again and leaned in a bit closer so that he could talk quieter.

"The desire to find your mother is only natural, but you must never let that passion control you" he said, with a warm comforting voice. "Instinct is important, you will discover its abilities when you grow up, but obeying instinct is not an absence of control, but rather a mastery of one's self". I looked at him, I looked at his smile, his rag covered eye, his scars...I guessed maybe he was speaking from experience.

"Okay", I said quietly, although not because I didn't want to wake Ruby; because that familiar lump had come back into my throat. I didn't wanna start crying again. I moved forward and hugged him, he didn't hug back immediately but then, with a bit of difficulty, hugged me back with his good arm.

"Hey", he laughed quietly; "it's okay". He smiled, ruffled my hair and straightened up, "I hope we meet again, Miss Xiao Long, maybe I could show you a few things about my fighting style". He gestured towards his metal arm," Eileen told me you were interested".

"Yeah" I replied eagerly, "It was awesome how fast you here moving". He smiled, he was clearly happy that he had inspired someone with his performance.

"Well, I'd better get going" turned to leave the room. I blurted out quickly

"Hold on, one last thing".

"Yes" said Djura, stopping at the door and looking over his shoulder.

"How did you put yourself back together after getting shot"? He paused, and then looked me straight in the face and said with a slight grin.

"My semblance, In'it".

I opened my mouth…then closed it again, that was such a throw away answer that I knew it wasn't true. Nobody's semblance could do that. But it didn't seem that he was going to discuss the matter any further with me. Djura nodded and turned to leave again. Eileen, who had been leaning against the door with her arms folded, let Djura past saying casually:

"I'll catch up with you".

"Alright, but make it quick, Gehrman gets whiny when we make him wait" After Just before Djura left the room; he turned to me and said:

"You've got guts, kid; never forget that". Then he shut the door behind him.

After he shut the door, Eileen moved forward. Unlike Qrow and Djura, she didn't get down to my level; she stood where they had crouched and reached into her cloak. When her hand reappeared, it was holding a small sheathe with a knife in it. I was alarmed for a second until she began to speak.

"Thought she'd like this back", I was confused by who she meant,

"uhh...who's she"?

Eileen slightly tilted her masked head to the side, gesturing towards the side of the room that Ruby was sleeping on.

"When I was getting into position to grab you two, I saw your sister holding it behind her back while Gascoigne was about to kill her", Eileen explained; "I supposed she was planning a counter attack, she was concealing it in her cloak, a strategy im rather fond of". It took a second for me to register what she had just told me, "Ruby...was gonna fight him there"?

"Couldn't you see her holding it when you two were against the tree as that beast charged you?" Asked Eileen; "she was planning to use its own momentum against it". From her tone of voice, it almost sounded like she was commending the sleeping Ruby on her fighting strategies.

"Yeah I saw it, I couldn't believe my eyes- she's never been like that before…and her eyes" I said.

Eileen walked over to my bed side table and placed down the knife and, looking at Ruby snoring said:

"Despite her size, Her battle smarts and instincts are exceptional, especially for someone of her age, I hope one day she grows up to refine and develop those instincts, until then; can I rely on you to keep her safe"? Eileen was looking at me again,

"Yes I will" I said, feeling a bit on the spot at this sudden vested interest she had in my baby sister.

"Thank you, said Eileen inclining her head forward in a far more formal bow; I'll take my leave then". She walked to the door and with a simple "farewell "opened the door and shut it behind her.

My eyes darted between the knife and Ruby; I could hardly believe that she had prepared for a split second decision, that I had though I had been protecting her and she was protecting me while we were staring those monsters down. I watched her role and sniff in her sleep, how could such a goof ball have such great instincts? I laid back down on my bed again and looked at the first rays of sun coming through the blinds in my window, "Guts and instincts..."

"so that's my story, said Yang still facing the black board; that's how I learned that not thinking things through is dangerous...and can screw over the people you love, how I learned to never let my passion outweigh my reason". She then turned around to face Blake, who was still sitting on the table, looking at her lap. "I'm not asking you to stop, I'm asking you to live...okay"? Blake looked Yang in the face and silently nodded. Yang smiled, took her hand; and they both left the empty lecture hall together, leaving behind the picture yang had drawn...the picture of a man with a scythe, a woman with a bird mask and a man in grey...with a rag over his eye...and a grin on his face.


	5. FLASHBACK The mourning crow

**For to wear a mask is to give up who we really are, and to become; for a little while, perhaps quite a bit longer, that persona- a grim masquerade**.

The dwindling candle light kept flashing in Eileen's eyes as she tried to empty her mind. She did not know why her master insisted on keeping it out when she was trying to sleep. But she didn't have the spine to question his judgment. Her goal of getting any sleep in a room with a burning stick of annoyance flickering four inches from her face was looking impossible. Shutting her eyes did nothing to block out the faint light the thing emitted.

She decided that it was late enough to get up and thought some morning training might put her master in a good mood. He often told her to train first thing in the morning, and Eileen found that it improved his temper to learn that at least one of his pupils took this whole hunter thing seriously. There were partners that she could rouse to spar with, but often got a door in her face when she attempted it this early. The room had no clock but this did not bother Eileen too much, the small ray of sunlight creeping over the window sill told her that it was at least dawn.

Slipping off her penitential shelf and stretching to relieve the usual cramp she got from sleeping on such a hard thing, Eileen looked herself over. She had not changed out of her rough shag clothing before attempting to fall asleep so no dressing was necessary. Her master was sleeping a few inches to the side of the candle, which was the only reason Eileen had not snuffed the silly thing out in the first place. Eileen had never asked why he slept with his mask on, but she could guess it was so nobody could tell whether or not he was asleep. She made an effort not to wake him as she crept out of the room.

Eileen did not wholly enjoy staying in the same room as her teacher, but he wasn't like anywhere else would be better. They all had to sleep on stone; apparently I would make them 'grow accustomed to discomfort'. Most of her fellow students found this to be a stupid rule; But Eileen did see the idea. Stalking mad hunters wasn't going to be a cosy business, not that Eileen even knew what cosy felt like. She had lived here her whole life. The stone floor of the castle always felt cold against Eileen's bare feet as she walked the halls in the early hours of the morning, but this did not trouble her. Sleeping on a cold stone slab for eighteen years had more or less numbed the pleasure sensors in her brain.

The flat windowless hallway stretched on for what seemed like miles until it came to a small left turn, leading out onto a balcony. Eileen breathed in the cold snowy air and allowed her body to feel its cleansing chill. The tundra surrounding the castle eliminated any semblance of tiredness Eileen had felt before. The blizzard cascading around the turrets and towers of her home was making the city below invisible. But Eileen knew it was still there, and she had been doing this since she was 8 so the fear had just stopped appearing from within her after a while.

Climbing on top of the waist high wall in front of her, Eileen assumed the appropriate position for someone who was about to go hurtling from a great height. She stood straight with one foot exactly on front of the other; her hands open at either side of her, around waist high. She peered down at the swirling white void before her and made one last judgment about what was below her, before leaning forward...and vaulting off the edge.

Even after years and years of experiencing it, the rush of the air in her ears, the unstoppable force of gravity at work in such a spectacular whirl of white, it was all still so awe inspiring to Eileen as she swan dived down into oblivion. This fall took a fair while so she got a chance to enjoy the wind rippling her thick black hair, pushing it out of her face and felt the freezing snow against her exposed arms and feet, bracing her more than any cold shower could ever hope to. It took her breath away, the adrenaline combined with the cold and the small vacant feeling of fear made for the most exhilarating thing Eileen had ever had the chance to experience.

But this spectacle was not permanent and the outline of a potted rooftop could be made out far below Eileen, rapidly approaching. Eileen's eyes widened as she prepared to land, twisting herself around in mid air and tensing her legs in just the right position to capitalise on the slippery surface. As Eileen's foot met with the shiny metallic side of a re-enforced brick chimney that she knew so well, her foot slid down it, taking the rest of her body with it. Eileen used the sudden change in trajectory while maintaining momentum to propel her forward over the rooftop and on to the next one where she landed gracefully next to another brick chimney, the exact same spot as all the other times.

The usual morning routine did not change regardless of the weather. This was designed to inspire resilience and a wide variety of coping skills among her kin. She was largely the only one who managed to perform so well in cold conditions; the others would screw up or just not try as hard. She did not feel too much remorse for her under achieving classmates. After all, the crow feather hunters were always expected to be the best, the blades in the dark who stalked their fellow man gone feral, the hunters who preyed upon other hunters. Amateurs were turned away at birth and anyone who couldn't pull their weight and keep up with the rest were simply thrown out…literally. (Eileen didn't like to think about what happened to the bodies).

A sudden noise broke Eileen free of her contemplations of her peers. It sounded like movement down on the street level, two…no three people walking. Eileen crouched down, keeping her whole body very low to the roofs tiles. Very slowly, she made her way to the side of the roof and peered down at the street. Three men were walking beneath her, all holding torches and wearing their hats and hoods low over their eyes. She immediately recognised them by their weapons. They were saw cleaver hunters. They were the lowest ranking hunters in Yharnham, the common soldiers.

Eileen knew of their social status within the city, but she had no particular interest in their affairs. Crow feathers were not considered part of this community, they sat atop this city and watched over it from a distance and did not mess arounds in its petty affairs. She also knew that her kind was not particularly liked among this circle. She had only heard through rumours among her fellow crow feather's and slip ups from her master, but apparently the crow feathers were often viewed as 'arrogant' and 'full of themselves.' Eileen wanted on some level to agree with her master and think that this was just foolish slander from inferior human scum, but that might prove their point.

The three men walked on fast, not speaking to each other and eventually turned a corner down onto a dark alley way. Eileen was glad to see them gone; she had no intention of fighting with no weapon. She decided to resume her morning training. Screwing up her strength, she propelled herself through the air and landed on the opposite side of the street's rooftops, landing semi-cat like on the tiles. Throwing herself up into a hand stand, Eileen walked on her hands to the end of the roof and cleared the narrow gap onto the next, while still walking on her hands.

In her mind she could not see why other people would accuse her of showing off, as she back flipped through the air over three more chimneys and landed on her feet at the foot of the mountain, upon which sat her home. Surely everybody was capable of achieving what she could do; there was nothing special about her. Eileen was just about to begin her ascend back to the heavens via the rocky furrows in the Cliffside when she heard another strange noise coming from the street she had just been vaulting around. A sort of crisp snapping noise, and it seemed to be coming from multiple sources in the same location. Exhibiting the same caution as before, Eileen peered down from the edge of a rooftop and saw what was making the noise. It seemed to her that an ocean of grey cloth was passing beneath her, but then Eileen saw that the dirty ragged figures were actually people, all clad in grey garbs and matching grey hats.

She saw their famous weapons, the tools that had earned them the titles of heretics in the city. They were the powder keg hunters, some of the strongest individuals you will ever meet. Technological masters, to the point of fusing with machinery entirely. She had only seen them from afar as they were never often in public; they preferred to tinker away in the shadows. Eileen thought this was a particularly odd public appearance, especially for such a large number.

The whole street was flooded with these powder kegs as they marched together, like a great grey herd of migrating elephants. Eileen could see that they were headed to the city exit. They must have been going on a hunting trip to another kingdom or something. She had always wondered what the other kingdoms of the world looked like…

"Quite the spectacle, aren't they."

Eileen's foot slipped in her surprise and almost caused her to fall. She luckily managed to regain her balance by grabbing a nearby gap in the roof top, made by a missing tile. Breathing heavily at the near miss, and angry at feeling cold for the first time since she had woken up, Eileen turned to her left, where another person on the roof had just spoken to her. A boy was sitting on the roof with her, crouching down over the edge, watching the powder kegs a few feet away from where Eileen was.

He looked about the same age as her, with short black hair and wide deep green eyes. He had a soft, approachable expression, smiling pleasantly down at the marching crowd. Eileen did not recognise this boy at all, but his black trench coat gave him the very distinct feel of a saw cleaver. Eileen's walls instantly came up as he turned his head and they made eye contact. Eileen stood up straight, ready to defend herself if need be. The strange boy didn't seem to be armed, but that didn't mean he couldn't be concealing anything.

"Aren't dull conversation either, if you manage to catch one outside its hole. Mad as hatters, but never a dull moment."

The boy chuckled and turned to face her fully and the damp girl was caught off guard once again. Most saw cleavers wore garbs of deep undecorated black or grey, so as to inspire fear. They were supposed to intimidate the populous who they were destined to kill if any sign of beast hood was discovered or suspected. This boy however, had a maroon scarf wrapped around his neck; it looked natural in its colouring as well, not just stained red by blood. The scarf seemed to be lightly frayed at the ends but apart from that, it looked wholly pleasant. The boy followed Eileen's gaze and smiled again.

"Do you like it?"

No answer, just a transfixed expression from a very conflicted teenage girl. The boys smile wilted a little.

"I…didn't think it was my colour."

He made a move to pull it off but stopped as Eileen rather hastily broke her silence.

"No-No, it's…uh…a nice colour."

The words slipped out before Eileen could react. Her face felt hot, and Eileen found herself looking at the boys muddy boots in embarrassment, as he looked her in the face. He was looking intently back at her. "What's your name?"

Eileen's face turned even redder, she did not like the boys tone, he had a hardy world beaten feel and he seemed to be finding amusement in her poor social skills. Did she really want a funny stranger to know her name? There was no way he could know she was a crow feather hunter, she was not dressed in proper attire. Besides, he did not look like he was probing her or anything, he just looked benignly interested.

"Eileen" Eileen muttered quickly, not making eye contact, the words almost felt gasped in the freezing night air. Jesus it was cold!

"Impressive name, I expect you're not from around here?" and he gave a little nonchalant nod to the base of the mountain.

"H-how did you know I was-" Eileen began, but the boy interrupted her with a casual wave of the hand.

"Who else would show off like that for an audience of one?" He raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in approval. "I'm not native to this city either."

The boy moved a step or two closer to Eileen and extended his hand, smiling politely.

"Alexander Gehrman, but people just call me Gehrman." Eileen took a very large step back, not liking this sudden urge to get close and touch, but she would be lying if she said that something about this boy hadn't intrigued her, she extended her own hand and they shook. Eileen let go as quickly as she could, she managed a small smile at the warmth of his hand.

"Right then." said Gehrman, sounding business like. "Now that I've made your acquaintance, perhaps I may invite you to share in an adventure?"

It took a few seconds for Eileen to understand what Gehrman had said, his strange hard to trace accent throwing her slightly. She began to scrutinize his appearance again, from his messy unkempt hair similar to her own, to his dark dirty clothes. She did not know if she was interested in any 'adventures' that made this sort of person excitable.

"I don't think so, I need to be getting back to my-"

"It's nothing the two of us couldn't do in our sleep." The boy had moved closer and placed his arm around her shoulder, as if greeting a lifelong friend. "It just so happens that I needed someone with a bit of agility."

Eileen silently appreciated the gesture given the cold, but still found it odd that he would act so friendly to a complete stranger. Her body had given a little involuntary shudder as he had spoken so close her face.

"W-what did you have in mind?" Eileen asked slowly, her curiosity overpowering her desire for avoiding her master's scrutiny. Gehrman's expression changed immediately, he became almost childlike in his enthusiasm to get started. He seized Eileen's hand and pulled her forward, leading her down a small flight of cobbled stares, leading down to the street. The Powder kegs had long since passed, leaving the potted little street a narrow silent gothic monument, bereft of life and human comfort.

"Home, sweet home." Gehrman muttered as he stared down an alley way full of rats, scuttling away from the sound of humans. He released Eileen's hand, leaving her stunned for silence, she had not even accepted this boy's offer, yet he was acting as if there was a binding agreement between them. His expression had not hardened at all, dispute the drastic change in scenery. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her uncertainty.

"Coming?" The boy grinned at her as he extended his hand and took a single step towards the ally way. Eileen took a step back.

"I need to get back; my master is going to be angry if I disappear for too long."

Gehrman's smile gave way to an uncomfortable expression, his cheeks slightly rubicund. Eileen sighed.

"I meant my teacher, he insists on being called 'master' for some reason." Eileen drawled on, her eyebrows rose. "Personally, I think he's compensating for something…"

Eileen clapped her hands to her mouth and her eyes popped in horror, causing Gehrman to grab her shoulder in concern. "What's wrong, are you alright?"

"I…I criticised him out loud…" Eileen sounded faint, breathless with terror and scandal. "That's…bad, that's very bad. He's going to be angry!"

Gehrman's arms relaxed and he straightened up; he looked straight into Eileen's eyes and smiled warmly. It was strange; that she was contemplating her own severe punishment, and all she could think about was how bright those green eyes were. In the gloom of the alleyway, among garbage and soulless cobblestone, that one colour stood out starkly against the black and grey, and even the red of the scarf around this peculiar boy's neck.

"Unless your father has the ears of some great bat, I doubt he heard you." Gehrman said, smirking slightly at the thought of a human size fruit bat in a dinner suit and top hat. Eileen shivered, and looked compulsively around the surrounding roof tops.

"My master is not my father…well, not my biological father, he raised me but…" Eileen trailed off, she knew that she was rambling and she wanted to gather her thoughts before speaking again. She took a long inhale and bounced slightly on the bawls of her feet. "Anyway, I wouldn't put it past him to already know…it can be scary how he finds somethings out."

But Gehrman did not look worried at all; he stretched with his hands on the back of his head and yawned loudly before he spoke again. "Well, we better get a move on before he gets here. Want to hear the plan?" He posed this as a question but continued before Eileen could even part her lips, "Alright, here it is: Something of great value has been taken from me by those brutes that passed below you just now. No, no not the grey ones, the only thing they've ever stolen are scrap metal and funny looks. No, the ones in black, _my_ kin…"

'So he is a saw cleaver after all…' Eileen thought as Gehrman continued to explain.

"Those self-important pricks have taken from me a very valuable heirloom, a trinket that means a great deal to yours truly" and Gehrman's voice sounded genuinely pained by the loss of this item, whatever it was. Eileen knew that he was being needlessly dramatic on purpose to impress her, but there was a true crack in his otherwise handsome and consistent tone. He seemed to be lost in his own contemplation for a moment before meeting Eileen's bemused gaze and continuing in a deadly serious voice, almost anger.

"They think what was taken is just a meaningless piece of trash, but I would gladly watch them burn for what they did… " His face was stony and merciless, deadly and desirous of revenge. But he seemed to be expressing this in spite of himself, for he straightened up and coughed loudly before reinstating his pleasant smile. Eileen's bemusement had grown to complete incomprehension, what could be of such great value to this boy to warrant such passionate hatred?

"Anyway, to give you the gist of it: they've got something I want and I need help getting it back."

He held out his gloved hand and wiggled the fingers encouragingly; Eileen looked at it fearfully as though it might bite her. "Why would I help you? I owe you no loyalty." Gehrman's smile widened slightly and Eileen noticed that it was not a pleasant smile. There was something about the toothy grin and the narrow eyes that made his face look oddly sinister.

"Well, you seemed rather afraid of what your old man would do to you if he found out you insulted-" Gehrman began but Eileen interrupted.

"-I'll do it."

In an instant the smile became handsome again, a happy glint in his eyes. Eileen only then noticed how tense Gehrman's body had been when it finally relaxed, he must have been extremely anxious to get back what he had lost. Eileen smiled in spite of herself, what was going on? Every time she heard that laugh…saw that smile…it made her feel so happy, like some strange joke she kept remembering. She enjoyed his company immensely, although she kept this fact on the down low, just in case he wasn't trust worthy.

"~Right, if we're going to do this, I need you to do exactly what I say, alright?"

* * *

Sunlight was creeping onto the streets from over the roof tops, but the light could not yet reach the street level. The shadow served the two young hunters as they stalked along, very close to the ground. They heard a cockerel crow in the distance when Eileen and Gehrman stopped moving, crouched down low to the floor, and Gehrman turned back to Eileen and placed his fingers to his lips

Eileen nodded, her face was set and her muscles were humming, this was her element. Slowly and silently, the young man raised his head and looked around the corner. He almost immediately drew back and nodded at Eileen. Their plan was to be set off moments from now. With deft skill all the more impressive for its total silence, Eileen scaled the side of the building and observed the street level, using a chimney for cover.

Three shadowy figures were moving slowly down the street; three men talking animatedly, she watched curiously and recognised them as the saw cleavers that she had seen earlier that morning. She could see their mouths moving, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. From below, she could see Gehrman crouching behind the corner; he was feeling around the floor by his feet, looking for a rock. All she had to do was wait for the signal.

The three men were more visible now. They all wore long grey coats and rags over their mouths their hats were all different, one wore a tricorn hat, one wore a cowl, and one a top hat. Eileen noticed that the centre man was holding something shiny in his hand. She leaned closer to hear what they were saying.

"There's no way its real, it's obviously forgery."

"But look" and the one in the middle proffered his hand. "The shape and the colour of the metal are exactly what they described. It's an old hunter-" the man with his face hidden by the cowl did not get to finish his sentence as he was stuffing the item back into his pocket. A thin and ragged looking girl had just swooped down and landed on the street level a little ways off from the party of saw cleavers. They stared at her; nothing this naked had ever been seen in the winter outside before. Her feet where red from the chilly ground and she was wearing next to nothing in the freezing wind around her torso. The men all gaped for a second (For various reasons, not all of which were legal strictly speaking), and just when they thought the girl would keel over from cold, she disappeared-disappeared behind a cloud of white smoke that had engulfed all three of them.

As the mist blocked the men from view, Eileen ran down the street to execute the next stage of the plan. From behind her, she could hear scuffling and shouting. It was clear that the boy was eager to steal back that funny thing the hooded man had been holding. Eileen reached the end of the street and climbed up onto a doorway right around the corner. Once in place, she stuck out her hand, as if to shake the hand of a person looking up from the cobbled stones below. She waited, her focus sharp as a needles point, until she heard the sound of heavy footfalls smacking stone towards her. Eileen's body went rigid; she was steeled for the pressure of his weight and-yes! Eileen grabbed hold of Gehrman's hand and used his momentum to pull him up onto the archway with her. Together the two young thieves climbed the building together, hearing the thunderous pursuers fade into the distance, shouting and swearing all the way.

* * *

"Well…that went…perfectly to plan…"

Gehrman wheezed as he fell over onto the roof of the building, panting heavily but smiling all the same. Eileen followed quickly and stood beside him, not having broken a sweat. She dusted herself off and looked down at the young saw cleaver, a pleasant grin on her face.

"We make a good team. You never mentioned smoke bombs."

"Blimey, you're an athletic one aren't you?" Gehrman murmured, staring at Eileen's calm face and steady breaths. She merely looked to his top pocket. She was eager to see what this had all been in aid of, the reason she was standing on a snowy rooftop with no shoes on. Gehrman must have wanted to show her as well, because the moment their eyes met, that sly smile was back.

"Alright, alright, I'll show you." And he reached into his pocket and pulled out…a badge. Eileen stared at it in utter disbelief; this was what they had planned for? This was what she had disobeyed her master for, a pathetic little badge?! There was a very long silence on that roof top, while the young woman glared from the small silvery trinket to the smiling boy holding it, not sure whether to be amused or furious.

"You can't be serious, right?" Eileen whispered, the cold starting to make her feel like she was dreaming, the edges of her vision were becoming dark and fuzzy. Gehrman gave her a sad smile to confirm that he was deadly serious.

"I know it doesn't look like much, but it's priceless, more than you could possibly imagine." And Gehrman moved his hands forward to make the little badge easier for her to see. He went very still, and Eileen noticed that he was staring into the distance, mouthing silently. His hand grabbed hold of Eileen's wrist and she noticed that it was shaking violently. Alarmed, Eileen looked behind Gehrman and saw a familiar sinister vision. Deep black eyes behind a smiling mask beneath a black bowler hat, a black as death garb with a matching cloak hiding the many deadly throwing knives concealed within.

She knew what had happened before she looked, her eyes travelled down Gehrman's back and the sight of the silver knives sunk into the boys back to the hilt made her feel oddly sick. She felt the boy's weight on her increase, the blood leaking onto her fingers and clothes. She wanted to do something, but she couldn't move for the look that her master was giving him. Those unblinking eyes were staring right through her, seeing into her soul and passing judgement. When he spoke, it was in his usual oily, cloying voice, the voice of a master manipulator and plucking the strings of his puppet.

"I have warned you of such things." Eileen's master spoke of Gehrman as though he were an abnormally large slug who couldn't understand him. "Such contact with lesser beings is…undesirable, as well as prohibited…"

Eileen tried to speak, she knew if she broke eye contact it would be a sign of guilt, but she was guilty, she had committed a terrible crime and now she was going to pay the price. She had communed with the outside world, she had made a connection with a normal person and now her master had severed that tie. After a moments swallowing of her own dread, Eileen began to defend herself.

"Master…Master I'm sorry for disobeying you, I-I only meant to-"

"What you intended to do…" Master cut across her as though her words were leading to a place he'd rather not tolerate. "…WAS disobeying me."

Eileen swallowed, she didn't know what to say, and it wasn't true; it wasn't...was it?

"You came down here; found the first civilian you could and fraternized with commoners completely on task didn't you?" He spoke with the same calm tone, but there was assertiveness in his voice that frightened Eileen, she felt like a mouse in the coils of a great strangling python. He was twisting her thoughts, her emotions and intentions, but she knew that if she contradicted him…her death would be swift and certain, unavoidable.

"Y-yes master…"

The words slipped out of her lips unbidden, but it seemed to satisfy him as the dark figure had turned around, and the weight of the leaking commoner seemed to lighten a little. But as she lowered her gaze to the bleeding body, she saw that his eyes were open but lazily so, Eileen knew that he must have lost half his blood by now, thanks to his major arteries being severed. There was nothing she could do for him now. But her master's voice recaptured her attention instantly. It was as though he was a dog trainer had whistled to a pet.

"We are to go home, and leave the wretch to die…I want an example."

Eileen hesitated for a moment, darting her eyes longingly between her master, the dying boy in her arms, and the folds of her master's cloak, where she knew he would have a knife poised to strike should anything not go to plan. In the end she knew there was nothing else for it. Eileen bent down and laid Gehrman's body on the snow covered rooftop. He looked almost indistinguishable from the powdery white glaze. She shook her head and stood up, facing the cloaked man before her.

"Y-yes master", said Eileen, and bowed curtly, not daring to look into the unfocused eyes below her. Though her manner was calm and obedient, a strange thing was happening in her chest. It felt like a like a starving beast scratching at the walls of her skin, howling madly at what was going to happen next. And the funny thing was, Eileen thought she knew the name of that beast. It was hatred, hatred beyond anything she had ever felt before, hatred that seemed to burn right through her. The indignity of it all, having to be on the beckon call of this…man (And the term had to claw its way across her mind, as she could hardly bare to describe her master as such), could do things like this to her only…

Eileen's master turned to re-scale the mountain but Eileen faltered for a moment, looking back at the boy, the poor boy that she had just met, and now so quickly had lost. She consoled herself that he had at least achieved what he had wanted, the small token…the small badge!

Eileen remembered the look on Gehrman's face that she had seen, from what seemed like ages ago. Her heartbeat quickened, Eileen glanced up at her master, and he was far above, way to high up to see the rooftops. Eileen made a grab at the little metal button and hid it in her pocket. She did not want this boy's one treasured possession to be taken by grave robbers, she would hold onto it as a means to remember him by, and if ever given the chance, would return it to his family.

She looked at him again, his eyes were now half closed and he looked almost peaceful. A small trickle of blood was escaping the corner of his mouth. Very quickly so her master would not see, Eileen wiped his face clean and, in spite of her better judgment, kissed that frozen boy on the forehead. The warmth of the goodbye was eclipsed entirely by the despair of loss, and Eileen found she couldn't look at Gehrman's face anymore. She had carried on his legacy to her, and given him a final sense of human warmth before the abyss took him. That was all she could offer him now. With a small, almost imperceptible sob, Eileen turned and followed her master back up that tall dark mountain.

The wind ruffled the dark hair as the blood began to reach the maroon scarf, dying it a deeper shade of red. Gehrman could not summon himself to take a breath as feeling beginning to fade from his legs and arms, and his vision began to darken. All he could see was the slowly lightening skies over Yharnham…and then a dark shadow enveloped his vision completely, and all the young man could feel was a cold emptiness where feeling had once comforted him, and he heard a voice hiss in his mind, a voice that might have been a dream, a voice of stone cold, undiluted poison.

"Miiiiiine…"


End file.
